Costco Goes Greek
Source: The Pappas Post, April 28, 2015
Costco dropped Italian sources for Greek producers. Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said that the availability of the extra-virgin olive oil Costco usually purchases from Italy is down to one-tenth of the normal level. “We wanted to get a single source of good quality and, for this year, we went to Greece”, he said.
Conditions conspired to create what Italian daily La Repubblica called “the black year of Italian olive oil”. Production in Italy dropped by 34% while prices rose by 84%, according to the International Olive Oil Council. Greek production was at normal levels, while prices rose only 15%. On Costco’s shelves, the formerly green label and cap of the 2-liter extra-virgin oil Kirkland bottles are now blue and proudly display the oil’s Greek origin. Americans think Italy when they think about olive oil, Chef Maria Loi said. “Certainly it’s going to put Greek olive oil on the US food map, because people watch what Costco does,” Loi said.
